photo by Ian Lovell

Celtic Crusaders couldn’t quite get to their first ever Cup Final on Saturday evening despite a gallant display against National League One leaders Salford City Reds.

The former Super League side will now face Ellery Hanley’s Doncaster in the final on July 6th following their 36-20 win in a scoreline that didn’t reflect how close the game was.

Salford are hot favourites to win the final against the League Two side but their coach Shaun McRae throws out any opinions that all his side have to do to win is turn up.

“Doncaster were impressive against Batley in the semi-final the other night,” he said.

“Ellery Hanley has been around the game for a long time both as a player and as a coach and has probably achieved more than anyone else in the game. I respect him immensely both as a person and as a coach. I know he’ll have his side prepared to an optimum performance and we won’t listen to any talk that the final will be a one-sided game. Anything can happen in a final, ask Wigan about 1998 against Sheffield. Nothing’s certain in this business.”

Salford started the game in the ascendancy. Mark Lennon did well to save a certain early try after beating Paul White to the ball when he was diving for the line.

But White wasn’t to be denied and from the goal-line drop out he weaved his way through to score in the corner. John Wilshire converted.

White was then a hero at the other end in Crusaders’ first good chance to score, as he beat his opposite number Luke Dyer to the ball following Gareth Dean’s long kick forcing a goal-line drop-out, while Damien Quinn prevented a second Salford try when he dived on Richard Myler’s cheeky grubber kick.

Crusaders levelled things on 19 minutes when Neil Budworth opened up a gap for Darren Mapp to run through. Lennon kicked the easy conversion.

And they took the lead straight from kick-off when, following an excellent set of six, Tony Duggan fed Mark Dalle Cort who dived in the corner.

Salford equalised straight away when John Wilshire leapt on White’s grubber. The full-back converted his own try to give them the lead.

The visitors had further chances to score. A Luke Dyer catch in the goal-mouth forced a goal-line drop-out while Wilshire was pulled back as was running through to a potential try following an obstruction.

But their attacking was rewarded when Wilshire scored a second hard fought try seconds before the half-time hooter, converting it himself to give the northern club an eight point lead at the interval.

Crusaders had a few early second half chances to get back into the game, most noticeably Luke Dyer who was set up by Josh Hannay, but the winger was pulled into touch.

Tony Duggan was also close, while had Paul Ballard had caught Dalle Cort’s pass, it would have been a certain try back for the Welsh side. Dalle Cort also knocked on as he was diving for the line on the hour.

Salford took advantage of these let offs and looked to have sealed the game when Richard Myler broke through to ground under the sticks. Wilshire kicked the extras.

But Crusaders weren’t finished yet.

Duggan broke through to score on 71 minutes with Lennon converting to give

the Crusaders hope. Hannay followed him over straight from kick-off but Lennon missed the kick and Crusaders were just two points away from extra-time.

However Salford sealed their place in the final with two minutes remaining as White ran through to score under the posts.

And Myler rubbed salt into the wounds with an excellent run to score with just seconds remaining. White converted after the final hooter.

McRae said: “It was good to win. In a semi-final of a cup competition, it’s very important to come out and get a result.

I thought both sides were a credit to rugby league, the quality of the game befitted a final. I’ve said all along that without doubt these are the two best sides in the competition, although we haven’t faced Halifax yet in the league so that could be a sweeping statement. However the Crusaders were a very good side and they were never going to go away today.”

Crusaders’ coach John Dixon was naturally disappointed.

“It is disappointing to lose any game,” he said. “But we were competitive for a long period of time. The score shows that there was a gap between us but I don’t think that gap was there throughout the day, I think it was just the last couple of minutes when we were trying to find something with no time left on the clock and we were still chasing the game.

“The final score wasn’t a great worry to me, I was more concerned that during the game, we probably allowed them to play a bit of footy that hurt us. Their defence was outstanding on the line, they defended really well for long periods of time so credit to them and all the best to them for the final.”

CELTIC CRUSADERS
1. Tony Duggan            
2. Paul Ballard              
3. Josh Hannay            
4. Mark Dalle Cort        
5. Luke Dyer                 
6. Damien Quinn          
7. Mark Lennon            
8. Jordan James           
9. Neil Budworth           
10. Gareth Dean           
11. Chris Beasley          
12. Darren Mapp          
13. Neale Wyatt             
Subs:
14. Ian Webster             
15. Aaron Summers      
16. Anthony Blackwood
17. David Tangata-Toa  
Tries: Mapp (19), Dalle Cort (22), Duggan (71), Hannay (74)
Goals: Lennon 2/4

SALFORD CITY REDS
1. John Wilshire
2. Matt Gardner
3. Stuart Littler
4. Stephen Bannister
5. Paul White
6. Robbie Paul
7. Richard Myler
8. Stephen Nash
9. Malcolm Alker
10. Craig Stapleton
11. Adam Sidlow
12. Luke Adamson
13. Jordan Turner
Subs:
14. Phil Leuluai
15. Stefan Ratchford
16. Jason Walton
17. Paul Highton
Tries: White (4, 78), Wilshire (25, 38), Myler (62, 80)
Goals: Wilshire 6/6

Penalty Count: 13-4
Referee: Gareth Hewer (Whitehaven)
Men of the Match:
Crusaders – Duggan,
Salford - Wilshire
Scoring Sequence: 0-6, 6-6, 10-6, 10-12, 10-18, 10-24, 16-24, 20-24, 20-30, 20-36
Half-time: 10-18
Gamestar: John Wilshire with two tries and an excellent all-round performance.
Gamebreaker: Paul White’s try with two minutes remaining opened up a ten-point gap that was impossible for the Crusaders to close.
Weather: Sunny
Match Rating: 4/5

article by Ian Golden
14 June 2008